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June 29, 2000; City of Greenwood
6/29/2000 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On April 17, 2000, IPA received a letter from John Musgjerd. In this letter, Mr. Musgjerd asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding his right to gain access to data maintained by the City of Greenwood. Mr. Musgjerd's request required clarification with IPA staff. In response to Mr. Musgjerd's request, IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Sandra R. Langley, an employee of the City of Deephaven, who provides administrative services to Greenwood under contract. The purposes of this letter, dated April 25, 2000, were to inform her of Mr. Musgjerd's request and to ask her to provide information or support for Greenwood's position. On May 3, 2000, IPA received a response from Mark W. Kelly, attorney for Greenwood. A summary of the facts of this matter follows. In a letter dated February 7, 2000, Mr. Musgjerd made a request for access to inspect four items of public data. Mr. Musgjerd addressed his letter to the Greenwood Public Information Officer per the requirements of Greenwood City Ordinance Number 127, Establishing Procedures for Management of Government Data, which was enacted by Greenwood on January 18, 2000. (Other aspects of the Ordinance were addressed in Advisory Opinion 00-015.) According to Mr. Musgjerd, I encountered significant difficulties in having my request completed. This was due in large part to the City of Greenwood failing to have a responsible authority. Issue:In his request for an opinion, Mr. Musgjerd asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 16, Responsible authority' in any political subdivision means the individual designated by the governing body of that political subdivision as the individual responsible for the collection, use, and dissemination . . . . of government data. Pursuant to Minnesota Rules Part 1205.1000: Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 16, the governing body of each political subdivision and the governing body of each state agency whose activities are subject to the direction of a governing body shall, by September 30, 1981, if it has not done so, appoint a responsible authority. . . . . The governing body shall confer on the responsible authority full administrative authority to carry out the duties assigned by the act and by this chapter. [Emphasis added.] According to Minnesota Rules, Part 1205.0200, subpart 14 (B), the responsible authority for a city shall be an individual employee of the city appointed by the city council. According to Mr. Musgjerd, Greenwood has not appointed a responsible authority. Mr. Kelly has not responded to the Commissioner's request for information indicating that Greenwood has appointed a responsible authority, nor has he provided the Commissioner with a copy of the City's resolution to do so. Therefore, the Commissioner concludes that Greenwood has not appointed a responsible authority as required by statute. Mr. Kelly stated that the City of Greenwood obtains its administrative services from the City of Deephaven under contract. According to Mr. Kelly, Deephaven declined to accept responsibility for processing certain requests for access to Greenwood government data, and Greenwood, acting pursuant to Section 13.03, Subd. 3, [sic] then elected to appoint an independent contractor [i.e., the Greenwood Public Information Officer] to serve as the City's designee' to process data requests. The Greenwood Public Information Officer resigned effective February 15, 2000. Apparently, the position has not been staffed since then. Under section 13.03, subdivision 2, a responsible authority may appoint one or more designees. However, absent a designee, the requirements of Chapter 13 must be fulfilled by the responsible authority. In order to secure one's rights under Chapter 13, the statute requires persons to direct data requests to the responsible authority of the government entity whose data are sought. Greenwood has not appointed a responsible authority. Further, pursuant to section 13.03, subdivision 2, (a), [t]he responsible authority in every state agency, political subdivision, and statewide system shall establish procedures, consistent with this chapter, to insure that requests for government data are received and complied with in an appropriate and prompt manner. According to Mr. Kelly, Greenwood City Ordinance Number 127 fulfills the procedural requirements of Chapter 13 regarding public access to City data. However, the Ordinance fails to identify by name or title the City's responsible authority or designee. There is no direction to the public about how to make a data request when the position of Public Information Officer is not staffed, as is currently the case. Any duty of a designee not performed by the designee reverts to the responsible authority. As noted above, citizens are unable to effectively exercise their rights under Chapter 13 if the government entity has no responsible authority. We acknowledge that in a City the size of Greenwood (population 650), there may be practical challenges to full compliance with Chapter 13. Nonetheless, the City is obligated to meet the requirements set forth in statute concerning the appointment of a responsible authority and the development and implementation of effective policies and procedures. The Commissioner would like to reiterate what he noted in Advisory Opinion 00-015: Before it enacted Ordinance No. 127, the City asked for an advisory opinion as to its legality. The Commissioner determined that a review of a proposed ordinance was outside his authority under section 13.072, and declined to issue an opinion. However, IPA staff provided Greenwood with extensive comments and concerns raised by the proposed ordinance. The Commissioner calls Greenwood's attention to those comments and suggests it examine Ordinance No. 127 in light of them. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue raised by Mr. Musgjerd is as follows:
Signed: David F. Fisher
Dated: June 29, 2000 |
Responsible authority
Designee appointed by Responsible Authority
Ordinances
Responsible authority (RA)
